This is a quick and easy guide on how to set up your own live stream with OBS via twitch, I will only review the most important settings to get started. Once you are into streaming, you will play around with all the settings anyway.

First of all, streaming consumes a lot of CPU and bandwidth. Unless you have a quad core or at least a good dual core and a minimum of 1 Mbit/s upload speed you can stop reading right here. Watching a stream with poor quality or playing while your CPU or internet lives on the edge is really painful. Test your upload speed at http://www.speedtest.net/ or similar websites.

Getting started:

We need a streaming tool, I will use OBS in this tutorial so go ahead and download it at https://obsproject.com/. For streaming, Warcraft 3 needs to run in window mode, otherwise your stream will flicker and that's just a pain in the ass to watch. To do so, start the w3arena launcher, check "start the game in a window" and join the battle.

If you want to stream in the regular BNet, just add -window to your Warcraft III shortcut.

For the next step we need a tool called Fullscreenizer. Just run the executable and fullscreenize Warcraft 3. You now have almost the same fullscreen experience but Warcraft 3 still runs in window mode. We will maybe add this feature in the next version of the w3arena launcher aswell.

Now start OBS, rightclick in the sources box and add "game capture" as a new source and select Warcraft III as application in the upcoming window.

Encoding: Alright, now switch to settings and you will see a bunch of stuff you can change. We will have a look at encoding first. If you are streaming via twitch you need to check "Use CBR". The"max bitrate (kb/s)" depends on your upload speed, I would recommend to set it to 2/3 of your upload speed at first. If you don't have that much of upload, lower the audio bitrate to save a bit for video, your video quality is way more important.

Broadcast settings are pretty clear, set the mode to livestream, streaming service to twitch and select the closest server in the drop-down menu. If you are not sure which server ist best, use the TwichTV Latency Checker. We now need a twitch account, go to http://twitch.tv/ and set up an account. If you already have an account you can go straight to twitch.tv/enteryourtwitchaccounthere/dashboard/streamkey to see your stream key, copy that and paste it into "play path/stream key" at OBS. Check also "minimize network impact" for a better gaming experience.

Video: You probably need to downscale your resolution; your resolution depends on your bitrate. It makes no sense streaming in 1080p if you only have a bitrate of 800 kb/s, your stream will most likely blur in fights and nobody will be able to see anything. You should have noticed twitch's quality options while you were watching a stream, they are the following:Low = 360p (480×360 / 640×360) with a bitrate of 400 kb/sMedium = 480p (640×480 / 852×480) with a bitrate of 800 kb/sHigh = 720p (960x720 / 1280x720) with a bitrate of 1600 kb/sI hope that gives an orientation, but you have to try on your own to find the best solution for your CPU / Internet and streaming quality. Please keep in mind that you not only need your upload speed for video but also for audio and playing Warcraft 3. You should also use the OBS Estimator to get hints for your settings. For "FPS" only use numbers that are integer divisions of your monitor framerate. For example my monitor is set at 60 Hz, thus my stream runs at 30 FPS (60 / 2 = 30).

Audio: I didn't change anything for audio and I think you only need to have a look at it if you have any trouble.

Advanced: Check "Use CFR" and set the "Keyframe Interval" to 2 seconds. If you have trouble with your CPU usage, set the x264 CPU preset to superfast.

Well that's it for now, you can start streaming.

While streaming, always have an eye on your dropped frames. Usually you shouldn't drop any frames, but if you do so either your CPU isn't fast enough with all the encoding stuff and you need to lower your settings or you upload speed is insufficient and you need to lower your bitrate.

To add your stream to the w3arena frontpage, just follow the instructions in this thread.

Note: If you have a microphone attached to your PC but are not going to commentate while streaming then please disable it. Otherwise people might hear you breathing or the sound of your keyboard and that's just annoying.

F.A.Q.

Warcraft 3 is so dark in window mode, the gamma settings seem to have no effect no more. How can I make Warcraft 3 look brighter again?

The Gamme settings in the Warcraft 3 Video settings have no effect cause the gamme settings of your desktop apply in window mode. You either have to get used to the darker look or change the gamme settings of your desktop every time you want to stream. You usually will find a setting for this in your graphic driver's options.